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8/6/18

Reese Kaplan -- A Dubious Parallel for Steven Matz?



A doppelganger is typically defined as a double – someone whose physical appearance is virtually identical to another person.  However, there is another definition of an alter ego or the ghostly counterpart of a living person.


With these latter definitions in mind, I propose that Steven Matz has a doppelganger by the name of Erik Bedard.  For those of you with short memories or who don’t follow the American League that closely, Erik Bedard was a supremely talented lefthander who made his debut with a cup of coffee with the Baltimore Orioles in 2002, then joined the rotation for good in 2004.  At first it was a little rocky, but in 2006 he went 15-11 with a 3.76 ERA, providing the Orioles with someone who might be an anchor in the rotation for the foreseeable future.  He followed it  up with an even better 13-5 record with a 3.16 ERA.  The future’s so bright you gotta wear shades.

Then the Orioles pulled off the kind of deal that the Mets are too cowardly to execute.  It is regarded as one of the most lopsided in baseball history.  Sending the 28-year-old southpaw to the Seattle Mariners netted the Orioles quite a haul, including Adam Jones, Chris Tillman and three other minor leaguers.  Jones has, of course, ensconced himself in Baltimore as one of their all-time greats, appearing in five All Star games over his 13-year run.  Tillman had a three year run in which as a starter he turned in ERAs of 2.93, 3.71 and 3.34. 

But let’s get back to Bedard.  Obviously coming off the kind of year he’d put together in 2007, Seattle had every reason to believe they had their new ace for the next 8 years.  Unfortunately that’s when things fell apart.  He’d been pretty durable with the Orioles, having missed just 22 days with an oblique strain in 2007.  From there it was all downhill.

In 2008 Bedard had two issues, a torn labrum and a bad hip.  Combined he missed 108 games and finished the year for Seattle with a 6-4 record over 15 starts with a respectable 3.67 ERA.  In 2009 it wasn’t much better, having hit the DL twice for a sore left shoulder, missing 100 games.  He again made just 15 starts, but did very well, going 5-3 with a 2.83 ERA.  He missed the entire 2010 season recovering from surgery to his pitching shoulder, coming back in 2011 to appear in 16 games, going 4-7 with a 3.45 ERA before being traded to the Boston Red Sox as part of a three-way trade involving a group of minor leaguers that never amounted to much.  For the August/September stretch drive Bedard won a single game for the BoSoc, posting a 4.03 ERA.  The Red Sox let him walk away as a free agent.

The Pirates then took a chance on the talented but injury-plagued lefty, inking him to a modest $4.5 million contract.  He was their opening day starter, but after going 7-14 with a 5.02 ERA the Bucs released him in August.  He hung on at age 34 with the Astros and age 35 with the Rays.  For his career he finished 71-82 with a 3.99 ERA.  His WHIP was 1.362 and he averaged 8.6 Ks per 9 IP.


Steven Matz got a jumpstart on the injury bandwagon over his doppelganger, first hitting the shelf as a minor leaguer in 2010 with elbow discomfort, eventually succumbing to Tommy John Surgery.  He was out until 2012 when he started his career by going 2-1 with a 1.55 ERA for Kingsport.

In 2013 Matz was urged by Frank Viola to add a curveball to his arsenal of pitches and used it effectively to fan 121 batters in just over 100 IP with a 2.62 ERA.  He looked like he was going to be a bright part of the Mets’ pitching future.

After being added to the 40-man roster in 2014 Matz split the season between St. Lucie and Binghamton where he delivered 2.21 and 2.28 ERAs respectively.  He was named the organization’s Pitcher of the Year.

Matz began 2015 in the pitching hell of Las Vegas where against all odds he pitched to a 2.19 ERA with a 7-5 record.  That was enough to entice the Mets to promote him and on June 28th he made an inauspicious debut, surrendering a home run to the Cincinnati Reds’ Brandon Phillips, the very first batter he faced in the big leagues.  He righted his ship, winning the game 7-2 and driving in four runs in his own cause.  His second game was even better, going 6 scoreless innings and fanning 8, but afterwards he hit the DL for the first time in the majors with a torn latissimus dorsi muscle which kept him out of action until September 6th.  He finished the season with a 4-0 record and a 2.27 ERA.  The Elias Sports Bureau said he was the first pitcher in team history to go through his first five starts yielding 2 or fewer earned runs.   He pitched in the post-season against the Dodgers, Cubs and Royals, effectively in each start, but not showing any wins.  Again, the future looked incredibly bright.

In 2016 Matz made the rotation and despite a rocky first start, he flourished in April and May, winning Rookie Pitcher of the Month award.  However, in June it was announced the he (and Noah Syndergaard) were pitching with bone spurs in the elbow that would require surgery.  Matz was shut down for the rest of the season. 

In 2017 Matz actually began the season on the DL with an elbow injury, not returning to the team until the second week in June.  He lasted just 12 games, pitching extremely poorly with a 6.08 ERA before hitting the DL yet again in August for yet more elbow surgery.

This past week Matz hit the DL yet again with a forearm strain.  His pitching line for his career thus far is a smaller sample size version of Bedard – 20-24, 4.10 ERA and a 1.315 WHIP while averaging 8.1 Ks per 9 IP. 

It’s too early to give up on Matz despite many people proclaiming him both mentally and physically soft.  The tools are most definitely there.  The question is whether he can overcome his myriad of afflictions to develop into a Jon Matlack type or will he go the route of his doppelganger? 

13 comments:

  1. Matz has been extremely disappointing. 10-1 career start was exhilarating, the journey since has mostly been a bad and injury-plagued one, with few wins and many losses. Disappointing.

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  2. The talent is most definitely there. He's shown it. The question is what can be done to overcome the injury woes?

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  3. I would approach Matz differently for the remainder of the season.

    It is obvious that Lying John Ricco wants to compete in 2019. This would lead to expect that deGrom, Syndergard, and the resurgent Wheeler are SP1-3 on opening day.

    Do baby steps with Matz for the rest of the season. Try to get him through the season without any additional arm problems. Pitch him for a max of five innings and piggy him with someone like Oswalt.

    He still may be a workable SP4 or 5

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  4. Be careful what you say about our next GM. After all, bringing in someone from outside the organization would require forethought, planning, creativity and money, none of which are the Mets' style.

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  5. Lying John Ricco and low energy Mickey Callaway?

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  6. And another thing about a GM from the outside.

    No matter what Fred or Ethel say to this person they will meddle.

    Due diligence will prove this (or a membership to Mack's Mets)

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  7. Interesting comparison, Reese.

    I hope that Matz doesn't follow the same path, but it certainly seems like he is a bit injury prone.

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  8. Hey Mack, I thought you said no politics lol.

    I am going to look at it on a positive side and say that if Wheeler, after all these years is healthy, maybe there is hope for Matz in 2019.

    Now, if the Three Stooges can at least extend Wheeler and deGrom, It will do a lot for us suffering fans. No sense letting Wheeler walk now that he has found his top shelf stuff.

    Not five aces but deGrom, Syndergaard, Wheeler would look very good next year.

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  9. With Matz it is two things really. His injury prone nature and his mental toughness.

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  10. Is this turning into a really fun NY Mets outfield now or what? Last night was awesome.

    For 2019, what does the team need? Milk of Magnesia. LOL No, besides that! If the Mets were to first go out and find, then add a HR hitting catcher to start games or be a part even of a platoon. It would probably help immensely.

    And then secondly, the Mets might need to upgrade third base too. Homeruns from third base would be big.

    That's it really offensively.

    From the pitching and defense side, maybe find a strong hard throwing lefty set-up/closer for the pen. Maybe give Dave Roseboom, a lefty, a look up here soon, just to see what the Mets have with him.

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  11. The 2018 NY Mets team is not a Terry Collins type of team anymore. Not at least with the six homerun batters Terry Collins always had with his teams. This team has set the table guys, but they are also learning how to manufacture runs as well. Hit and runs, or just the runs even.

    On the pitching side, seldom do the Mets now use six pitchers in any one game, unless something seriously went awry and off track first. No relievers are relegated anymore to facing just one batter, then hand it off to the next reliever for him to pitch to one more batter. The games used to take eight hours.

    Sabermetrics (or whatever they call it) and player analytics now stand to put this game we all love in jeopardy of overkill. The fans are being bombarded with unnecessary crapiosity. It easily could cause large breasted women to streak. Wait a minute, that sounds pretty good to me. Could even increase gate revenue. Gate Mr. Met on the phone!

    Why didn't I think of that?

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  12. What an amazing starting rotation the Mets have here right now. Everyone stayed except "Mr. Hollywood", that is.

    Right now, the rotation is so good that it would be almost impossible to rank then one ahead of the other. Personally, I am sort of liking Zachary Wheeler the best currently, because to me he has been the smoothest starter for a few weeks now.

    But any one of them could be the best.

    I cannot recall this ever happening here before, except maybe when Gooden, Darling, Ojeda, and Pineapple Sid Fernandez started here in 1986. But to be honest here, this 2018 Mets' rotation is much better than that one was, deeper.

    Ask Ron and Keith what they think.

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  13. Tom Brennan

    Good post on Steven Matz.

    Let me put it to you in another way here. If Las Vegas odd makers were taking bets on whether Steven Matz will ever make it one whole season without getting put on the DL at least one time in any season with like a left arm forearm strain or arm tear injury of some type, would you bet that he could or could not. Of course not. You'd have to be delusional or a hypnotized yard gnome to bet that he could stay healthy one whole season.

    Call Shirley McClain and verify this. Shirley is from outer space and knows everything!

    I rest my case.

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